The present invention relates to replacement valve assemblies for existing valves which can be made on site by a plumber or rapidly assembled by a plumbing supply house.
In the past, there have been several hundred different valve assemblies used for a variety of valves. In the absence of any real standardization, each valve manufacturer has different valve assemblies which are not interchangeable with other manufacturers and one manufacturer may have dozens of valve assemblies which are not interchangeable with each other. A typical example is where one manufacturer has the same valve element and operating threads for a variety of valve assemblies, but with each assembly having a different length stem and therefore not being interchangeable. That is, some of the valves require longer stems than others, such as the valve assembly for a shower may require a longer stem than the same valve assembly in a lavatory fixture. The valve assemblies multiply as a manufacturer over the years changes his design of valves and fixtures. Many valve assemblies are manufactured by companies long out of business and replacement parts become very difficult to locate or impossible to obtain. In addition, small foreign manufacturers do not have large distribution within a country, and may also not have replacement valve assemblies available. This results in plumbing supply houses having to carry in inventory large numbers of replacement valve assemblies and still not being able to have all of the assemblies which may be needed by a plumber. So that many suppliers carry no replacement parts, it also requires a plumber trying to replace a valve assembly having to drive to different plumbing supply houses looking for a replacement valve assembly. If no replacement valve assembly is available, the entire valve fixture has to be replaced. Replacing the entire fixture may substantially increase the cost, such as in home bathroom showers, where a portion of the wall and the tile have to be removed to gain access to replace the valve assembly, and then the wall repaired. The repair on the wall may not be satisfactory because the tile used in older bathrooms may no longer be available to make the repairs with, so that the replacement tiles do not quite match the original tiles. The present invention is directed toward a valve assembly which can be readily made up by the plumber or by the plumbing supply house from a kit requiring substantially fewer parts than the number of different replacement valves. It also, advantageously allows a plumber or plumbing supply house to replace valve assemblies which are not available and to use valve assemblies with slightly enlarged components to correct for the substantial wear that can occurr over long periods of use of a valve. The stems needed for gate valves that are buried can easily be replaced without disturbing the piping or removing the valve body.